{"id":149708,"date":"2023-10-13T11:30:16","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T15:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=149708"},"modified":"2023-10-13T11:21:40","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T15:21:40","slug":"insider-expect-chiefs-reunion-broncos-clark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/10\/13\/insider-expect-chiefs-reunion-broncos-clark\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Insider: &#8216;Expect&#8217; Chiefs to Explore Reunion With Free Agent Pass Rusher"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Through <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/10\/05\/vikings-offense-struggles-matchup-chiefs-week-5\/\" target=\"_self\">five-plus weeks of games<\/a>, the Kansas City Chiefs rank third in the NFL with 17 sacks on the season. But one NFL insider believes they will at least kick the tires on a pass rusher who has just hit the free agent market.<\/p>\n<p>The Denver Broncos released EDGE rusher Frank Clark as they prepare to lean into a retool.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe #Broncos are <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TomPelissero\/status\/1712824017545998658\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">officially releasing veteran pass rusher<\/a> Frank Clark today, per sources,\u201d posted NFL Network\u2019s Tom Pelissero on October 13. &#8220;Like Randy Gregory, the 30-year-old Clark doesn\u2019t fit Denver\u2019s future plans. But Clark has 58.5 career sacks, two Super Bowl rings \u2026 and now has a chance to boost another contender.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That contender could be the Chiefs, according to Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network, who posted, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MikeGarafolo\/status\/1712824296018522261\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Expect a reunion<\/a> with the #Chiefs to be at least discussed,\u201d in a quote of Pelissero.<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;Expect&#8217; Chiefs to Explore Reunion With Frank Clark, Insider Says<\/h2>\n<h3>Frank Clark Knew His Time Was Up With Chiefs<\/h3>\n<p>Clark, 30, spent the last four years of his career with the Chiefs. He racked up 23.5 sacks in that span. Clark also forced six fumbles, recovered three fumbles, deflected seven passes, and even recorded an interception.<\/p>\n<p>He was cut in March after helping the Chiefs win the Super Bowl last season.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Trav AND Frank mic&#39;d up for the AFC Championship? <\/p>\n<p>This is gonna be good \ud83c\udf7f <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OmrMnEGsgV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/OmrMnEGsgV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Chiefs\/status\/1621627337052913664?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 3, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The reality is that I had to face that a few months ago when I had the conversation with \u2026 [Genereal Manager Brett] Veach,\u201d Clark said on \u201cUndefined with Josina Anderson\u201d on June 9. \u201cThere\u2019s always a little bit of hope that you could defend your crown and stuff like that, but I kind of knew \u2026. that it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=v26v3nrqEaQ\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">probably wasn\u2019t going to happen<\/a> just based on our conversation that we had.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A three-time Pro Bowler, Clark has only appeared in two games this season.<\/p>\n<p>He has logged two tackles in 36 total snaps and has dealt with a hip injury that kept him out of Weeks 2 through 4. He returned to action in Week 5 versus the New York Jets.<\/p>\n<p>But Clark has received <a href=\"https:\/\/premium.pff.com\/nfl\/players\/2023\/REGPO\/frank-clark\/9496\/defense-grade-chart\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">no higher than a 48.9 grade<\/a> in either of his appearances from Pro Football Focus. Any team adding him would be banking heavily on a change of scenery revitalizing him.<\/p>\n<h3>Chiefs Were Open to a Reunion<\/h3>\n<p>The Chiefs leading sacker is Chris Jones. Jones has 5.5 sacks in five games, putting him on pace to surpass his career-high mark of 15.5 if he keeps it up.<\/p>\n<p>Kansas City also has eight other players with at least a half-sack to their credit, including starting EDGE rushers Mike Danna (3.5) and George Karlaftis (2.5). And defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is willing to send blitzes from unconventional places.<\/p>\n<p>His defense ranks <a href=\"http:\/\/pfref.com\/pi\/share\/wtiOn\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ninth in blitz rate<\/a>, per Pro Football Reference.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Chiefs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Chiefs<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/StoneColdJones?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@StoneColdJones<\/a> is a dominant force on the \u2026.ok\u2026.I will say it\u2026.the NFL\u2019s most complete defense. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ChiefsKingdom?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#ChiefsKingdom<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BaldysBreakdowns?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#BaldysBreakdowns<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/hEGrwSmChq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/hEGrwSmChq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BaldyNFL\/status\/1712821977382105581?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 13, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn&#8217;t even do no talking, I got all this from the back end in my agent, Erik Burkhard. \u2026 He basically just gave me the scoop,\u201d Clark told Anderson. \u201cHe said, \u2018If it comes around in free agency and if we can make something work out later on, let\u2019s stay in contact and we can work something out.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Chiefs have $3.8 in cap space before making any other moves to accommodate Clark potentially.<\/p>\n<p>A reunion could be in order if the Chiefs feel like their pass rush could use a little more teeth. Clark never recorded more than 8.0 sacks in any season with the Chiefs, though; a mark which he set in his first season in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Clark had 5.0 sacks last season and notched 2.5 more in the postseason.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One NFL insider expects the Kansas City Chiefs to explore a reunion with a former pass rusher who just hit the market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2879,"featured_media":149710,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,15],"tags":[7811,298,2629,9079,32031],"class_list":["post-149708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chiefs","category-broncos","tag-chiefs-featured","tag-chris-jones","tag-frank-clark","tag-george-karlaftis","tag-mike-danna"],"modified_by":"Josh Buckhalter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2879"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}